It is well known to provide fluid dispensers for use in restaurants, factories, hospitals, bathrooms and the home. These dispensers may contain one of a number of products such as, for example, soap, anti-bacterial cleansers, disinfectants, and lotions. Dispensers often include some type of manual pump actuation mechanism where the user pushes or pulls a lever to dispense a quantity of fluid, as is known in the art. Alternatively, “hands-free” automatic dispensers may also be utilized where the user simply places one or both hands underneath a sensor and a quantity of fluid is dispensed. Similar types of dispensers may be used to dispense powder or aerosol materials.
Product dispensers are commonly configured to be mounted to a wall or other vertical surface, with the product being dispensed from an outlet near the bottom of the dispenser. It is also known that dispensers may be integrated into a countertop near a sink basin, with certain components of the dispensing system being located beneath the countertop, and other components, including an outlet, being located above the countertop. These types of dispensers are often referred to as counter-mount dispensing systems. Various other configurations of dispensers are also known, including table-top style dispensers that rest on a horizontal surface such as a counter or table top, or stand mounted dispensing systems that attach to a mounting pole.
In the case of automatic “hands free” dispensers, a power source may be required to supply power to the pump, sensors, valves, communication devices, and video screens of the dispenser. Conventional power sources include replaceable batteries, an external power supply, or solar power. The most common of these power sources are batteries, which are provided within the dispenser. Battery power supplies suffer from a number of disadvantages, including being large in size, thereby requiring a larger dispenser to accommodate the batteries, as well as requiring routine maintenance to replace the batteries. Larger dispensers are more expensive to manufacture, and may present difficulties during installation where wall or counter space is limited. Other types of power supplies, such as external power supplies and solar power supplies, while not subject to the disadvantages of batteries, suffer from their own disadvantages, such as being difficult and expensive to install.
The size of foam product dispensing systems is also often increased by the need for an air pump to draw air into a mixing chamber to generate the foam. This is in addition to the added size to accommodate batteries where a battery power supply is provided. As discussed above, this increased size of the dispenser is not desirable. Also adding to the size of dispensers is the volume of product provided in refill units. While larger volume refills are advantageous in that they require less frequent replacement, they also further add size to the dispenser.
Thus, there is a need for an improved system and method for dispensing foam and liquid products that alleviates one or more of the deficiencies discussed above.